Upconverting DVD Players

[SCDVD]

I am planning to buy an upconverting DVD player. I am looking for inputs on quality differences on various models. I would appreciate comments on the good, the bad and the ugly. Related to this, do HD players also play / upconvert standard DVD discs?

[oldandinthe way]

In many cases the best upconversion is that which your TV does.

Yes HD-DVD will play standard DVDs and upconvert.

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal felt the $98 HD-DVD player at Walmart did so well because it was priced close to upconvert DVD players.

If I were you, I would not buy anything now and wait to see if there is a repeat of the Walmart/Toshiba deal.

[samijubal]

The A3 can be found for $150. I think the A2s are gone, you'd have to be real lucky to find one now. Amazon had a deal a week or so ago, I don't know if they still do, where you could get an A3 + 10 DVDs for $199.

[MJA]

my vote goes to the A3 too. only $179.98 at amazon.comes with 2 free movies inside the box,and 8 mail in

[edDV]

I am planning to buy an upconverting DVD player. I am looking for inputs on quality differences on various models. I would appreciate comments on the good, the bad and the ugly. Related to this, do HD players also play / upconvert standard DVD discs?

To answer your questions:

1. It all depends how good or crap your HDTV processing is. What model HDTV do you have?

2. Upconverting DVD players only play normal DVD and most only upconvert to HDMI. Blu-Ray and HD DVD players will also play and upconvert standard DVD. Mileage varies.

[SCDVD]

What model HDTV do you have?

I have a Vizio VP50 50" plasma.

Check your Inbox. I sent a PM to you last week

[edDV]

What model HDTV do you have?

I have a Vizio VP50 50" plasma.

Check your Inbox. I sent a PM to you last week

The VP50 has a native resolution of 1366 x 768p which is high for a plasma. Most are 1024x768. If you play a 720x480 DVD it will upscale that to 1366x768p* and deinterlace or inverse telecine if necessary.

If you use an upscaling player set to 720p, the player will deinterlace 480i DVD discs and then upscale to 720p or simply upscale 480p discs to 720p. The TV will receive 1280x720p and then upscale that to 1366x768p* for display.

[comment] Note the double upscale. If the source is interlace, the real test is which has the better deinterlacer the $1500 TV or the $49 upscaling DVD player [/comment]

If you use an upscaling player set to 1080i, the player will upscale 480i DVD to 1920x1080i. The TV will then deinterlace or inverse telecine 1080i to 1080p and then downscale to 1366x768 for display.

[comment] Note the upscale, deinterlace and downscale. [/comment]

If you use an upscaling player set to 1080i, the player will telecine 480p/23.976 DVD discs to 480i/29.97 and then upscale to 1080i. The TV will receive 1080i and attempt to inverse telecine to 1080p/23.976. It will then downscale to 1366x768 for display.

[comment] Note the interlace, upscale, deinterlace, downscale [/comment]

In summary, the DVD player has the burden of proof that it can do a better job upscaling than the TV. If the TV is old or cheap, then the DVD player may have the advantage at 720p upscale. A cheap or old TV will screw up the inverse telecine if you use 1080i. The better the DVD player (think Oppo), the odds shift to the DVD player.

If you have a state of the art Sony Bravia XBR5 vs. a $49 K-Mart special upscaling DVD player guess who wins?


* I've been saying the TV scales to 1366x768 for display but it doesn't exactly do that. The TV scales with about 5-10% overscan which crops the outer edges off the displayed picture. Usually only the Game/PC VGA port escapes the overscan treatment. Some HDTV's have menu settings to eliminate overscan (e.g. Samsung's "Just Scan").

[SCDVD]

I understand that the upconverting quality varies quite a bit among various HD TVs. Does anyone have knowledge about the Vizio VP50 with respect to its upconverting quality? It is widely reviewed with very high marks but I haven't found any specific comments about it upconverting quality.

[edDV]

I understand that the upconverting quality varies quite a bit among various HD TVs. Does anyone have knowledge about the Vizio VP50 with respect to its upconverting quality? It is widely reviewed with very high marks but I haven't found any specific comments about it upconverting quality.

I don't know about the VP50 specifically but Vizio uses generic but recent chips which puts them above average for recent models. Scaling isn't "rocket science". The main issues are deinterlace and "Cinema" inverse telecine where the premium models (e.g. top end Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, etc.) shine with their proprietary or licensed technology. Some Vizio models use the Faroudja DCDi chips to give a better SD upscaled image. Generic chipsets are getting better at these tasks. I don't see as many Vizios with DCDi at Costco.

Note that "value" lines from the big name manufactures use the same "generic" processing chips that Vizio uses. Vizio just seems to turn inventory faster resulting in faster adoption of new chip versions.